Art Gallery

Meditations from the Quarantine Studio: Tapestries

Mara Wagner

When the quarantine hit us all, I began working from home, along with many psychotherapists who did
not have to brave the chances of exposure in their jobs every day. We called it “working from home”, but
I joked that it would be better called “living at work”. The tapestries shown currently at CHA were all hand
stitched in my pandemic home along with quilts, large and small, and many many sets of coasters. The
slow practice of choosing the fabrics, cutting the shapes, and stitching the compositions soothed me and
helped me free my mind to listen throughout the day as we all tried to figure out how to cope in the new
world of even more uncertainty.

Each of the works includes fabric that came from clothing my family has worn, e.g. my brother’s
Hawaiian shirts that his daughter will not let him wear in public, dresses my epidemiologist daughter wore
in India while studying water purification or in Kenya helping prevent HIV transmission in women and
children, or snippets my artist daughter donated from leftovers in her curated collections of amazing
upcycled things. My fiancé donated shirts and I received many gifts of cloth from neighbors and friends
when they heard of my new practice. I even bought some fabric, especially for the backings. The
hanging rods were made in Indonesia and sold by a fair trade company here in the US.

Stay tuned for a date when I will host a reception at Cambridge Health Associates, home to my first solo
show of paintings and collages several years ago. On that evening, I will bring more stitched works,
including the quilts and coasters. And please feel free to email me with questions or comments,
drmarawagner@gmail.com.